Mother Carey's chicken

American  

[kair-eez] / ˈkɛər iz /

noun

1. any of various small petrels, especially the stormy petrel, Oceanites oceanicus.

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Mother Carey's chicken British  

/ ˈkɛərɪz /

noun

1. another name for storm petrel

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Etymology

Origin of Mother Carey's chicken

First recorded in 1760–70; origin uncertain

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Mother Carey's chicken

This little schooner was in ballast, and skimmed over the seas like a Mother Carey's chicken; ranged up on our weather quarter and hailed us.

From Jack in the Forecastle or, Incidents in the Early Life of Hawser Martingale by John Sherburne Sleeper

I haven’t got the heart of a Mother Carey’s chicken.

From The Buffalo Runners A Tale of the Red River Plains by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

I am never tired of the calms, and I enjoy a stiff gale like a Mother Carey’s chicken, so long as I can be on deck or in the captain’s cabin. 

From Letters from the Cape by Lady Lucie Duff Gordon

It is known to every English sailor by the name of Mother Carey's chicken.

From Wanderings in South America by Charles Waterton

We had him, now on our weather bow, and now crossing our course, and, once in a while, in our wake, as if he had been a Mother Carey's chicken looking for our crumbs.

From The Water-Witch or, the Skimmer of the Seas by James Fenimore Cooper

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